PHOTO LINKS WITH HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS BELOW: New Jersey – Thousands of people gathered on Monday in the Meadowlands Exposition Center for the first day of the 22nd Annual 2-day Kosherfest.

Who would believe Chipotle Chili Aioli sauce, Pomegranate Acai Mints, or Pina Colada Popcorn would be found in the pantries of today’s kosher consumer?

They are among more than 120,000 kosher certified items, and additional items are on the way. More than 500 newly kosher certified foods were introduced at the 21st annual kosher food, beverage, wine & spirits trade show – Kosherfest 2009.  According to the Mintel Research Organization, kosher remains the most dominant feature on new food items and an estimated 40% of a supermarket’s food products are kosher.

According to Rabbi Eliyahu Safran, V.P. Communications and Marketing for the Orthodox Union (OU), “In the past year there has been significant increase in the number of inquiries and applications by many food companies about OU certification despite the ongoing recession. The companies are well aware that attaining kosher certification can easily increase sales and gain a larger market share. We have particularly noted a spike in applications from every segment of the beverage, baking and organic food categories.”

The kosher symbol seems to be everywhere these days, from exotic sauces and convenient heat ‘n serve foods, to gourmet and customized desserts as well as non-dairy, non-soy and gluten-free products in every food category.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, co-producer and founder of Kosherfest, “Sales of kosher foods in the past year have increased by double-digits, significantly higher than the U.S. food market in general or for that matter other categories of specialty. Kosher has benefited from a constantly growing loyal base and the addition of many non-traditional consumers.” He credited the nation’s food retailers with having the “vision and wisdom to buy into a very dynamic and creative market.” The value of the kosher certified products market is over $200 billion, according to KosherToday, an industry newsletter. This year’s kosher food competitions and events gives visitors a taste of the best that kosher has to offer.

Kosherfest New Products Competition

The brand is called Luck Chen (a takeoff of the Yiddish term lugshen, which means noodles) and its 5 different flavors of Asian noodles were deemed the best new product of Kosherfest 2009 by a distinguished panel of judges who evaluated several hundred entries at the Marriott Glenpointe in Teaneck NJ on October 15th. The consensus of the judges was that this year’s entries were innovative, different and great additions to the kosher food shelf. Many of the winners were enhanced versions of existing products, frequently taking ordinary terms into the gourmet category. The winners were formally recognized at opening ceremonies for Kosherfest 2009.

The team of judges that gathered to select the winners included Yakov Yarmove of SuperValu, Joe Plueger of DPI, Jacob Rusinov of Shoprite, Jeff Nathan of Abigael’s, and Marty Stein of Tree of Life.

The new kosher food product entries were judged on the basis of such criteria as their newness, quality, taste, salability and retail price point. The winners are:

Best In Show – Luck Chen Asian Noodles in 5 flavors (NYC, NY)
Best Baked Good, Bread, Grain or Cereal – Sarah’s Tent Potato Borekas (Deal, NJ)
Best Beverage – True Toniq DBA Brain Toniq, Brain Toniq (Longmont, CO)
Best Cheese or Dairy – Get Healthy America Lasagna Florentine (Plainview, NY)
Best Dessert, Candy, Cookie or Cracker – Illinois Nut & Candy Smooth & Crunchy Peanut Butter Bark (Skokie, IL)
Best Food Service Product – Custom Candy Concepts, Inc, Picture Cookies (Ellijay, GA)
Best Packaging/Design – True Toniq DBA Brain Toniq, 4-pack Brain Toniq (Longmont, CO) Best Kosher Organic – Quality Frozen Foods Organic Batter Blaster (Brooklyn, NY)
Best Snack Food – Osem USA, Inc. Bamba Peanut Snack w/ Hazelnut Cream Filling (Englewood Cliffs, NJ)
Best Fine Food from Israel – Blue & White Foods LLC Falafel with Tehina Filling (Long Island City, NY)
Best Giftware/Novelty – Kosherkeepers® by Plastic Packaging Corp Food Kosherkeepers® Food Storage Containers (W. Springfield, MA)
Best Jam, Preserve or Spread – Oxygen Imports Mixed Berry Blast (Rahway, NJ)
Best Meat, Poultry or Seafood – Kosher Valley Chicken Breast Cutlets (Plainville, NY)
Best Wine, Beer or Spirit – The Natural Group/Kedem Elvi Sintonia Sangria (Bayonne, NJ)
Best Savory Condiment, Spice, Sauce, Oil, Vinegar or Dressing – Streit’s Matzos Asian Mel’s Gourmet sauce Line (NYC, NY)
Best Passover Product – Zelda’s Sweet Shoppe Zelda’s Orange Chiffon Cake (Chicago, IL)
Best Health & Wellness – Green Rabbit, LLC MIMICCREME Coffee Creamer (Albany, NY)
Best Pasta, Rice, Bean or Soup – Luck Chen Asian Noodles (5 flavors) (NYC, NY)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH

• State of the Kosher Industry: The Marketing of Kosher Foods
Menachem Lubinsky, founder of Kosherfest, discussed how the industry can use its kosher status to make inroads with different segments of the food market, including retail and foodservice.

As the kosher food industry continues to grow; more than 100,000 products carry a kosher symbol. This can be an enormous marketing opportunity, for those who capitalize on this important asset. Over ten million Americans buy kosher food and U.S. supermarkets are seeing a greater growth in this market over non-kosher sales.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH

• 2nd Annual Kosherfest Culinary Competition
Watch and learn as chefs prepare their kosher deli sandwich of choice at the 2nd Annual Kosherfest Culinary Competition. A panel of industry professionals will judge and decide who takes the title.

• Crash Course in Gelatin – Presented by The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts
An engaging presentation from the culinary experts at The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, the only kosher cooking school in the US. This event will feature a demonstration on how to prepare Kolatin® Real Kosher Gelatin for use in cooking & baking, followed by a Q&A on the characteristics and general application of the product. Take your kitchen prowess to the next level by learning how to use gelatin, one of the most versatile ingredients out there!

YWN PHOTO LINKS: Click HERE for photos taken for YWN by Hillel Engel, and click HERE for photos taken for YWN by Shimon Gifter.